


restless tides

by lionsenpai



Category: Drag-On Dragoon | Drakengard
Genre: Decadus is lucky he's not the sharpest tool in the shed, F/F, Murder GFs au, but hes still a tool
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-19
Updated: 2016-02-19
Packaged: 2018-05-21 11:29:08
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6049978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lionsenpai/pseuds/lionsenpai
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the midst of a business deal with a new potential client turned potential enemy, Five and Zero are embroiled in a game neither is willing to lose. It goes about as well as expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	restless tides

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Zerrat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zerrat/gifts).



> my part in a smut exchange with zerrat. five/zero was the request and honestly it was such a fucking treat to write, even if it took like three drafts to get it to where it is lmao

Judging by the time, they were nearly forty-five minutes late. 

“His name is Decadus, and he’s from One’s side of the water,” Five said, sounding for all the world as though she expected Zero to care. “He’s agreed to meet us here, and he didn’t even try to negotiate the price on the job. He’s been a perfect gentleman - and I’m sure he wants to extort me.”

It was times like this when Zero desperately wished the motor of Five’s sleek black sports car wasn’t so heavily modified that it might have been a whisper in the background. Her fingers drummed along the wheel, cranking up the volume on the radio. 

Five shot her a look from the passenger’s seat, leaning forward to silence the radio entirely. “Zero?” 

Zero grunted, not looking her way, eyes doggedly set on the road before them, headlights bright enough to catch flashes of the beach below as they raced around a bend. 

The click of a tongue signaled Five’s displeasure, but the soft caress of gloved fingers at the nape of Zero’s neck promised something entirely different. A glance revealed Five was smiling, her best cocktail dress sticking to her like a second skin, and Zero couldn’t help but huff. 

“Are you feeling a little neglected, Zero? And here I thought you completely indifferent to where my attentions wandered.”

“Shut it,” Zero groused. “We were in the middle of something.”

Nails rasped against her flesh, and Zero’s mouth ratcheted tighter, frustration and annoyance bleeding into her joints as she whipped the car around a curve, the momentum throwing Five’s shoulder against the car door and tearing her hand away. 

Making a sound of disgust, and flipping her hair over one shoulder, Five said, “I know you’re upset, Zero, but try not to kill us. We’re almost there.”

True to her word, the beacon of one of her summer vistas appeared on the horizon, glowing a warm gold against the inky sky. It sat on a comfortable overlook, a sheer drop of fifty feet the perfect venue to conduct the kind of business she did. The ocean below churned in steady tides, unseen but promising certain death should an unfortunate accident send someone over the edge. 

Just the thought of being stuck there, listening to the waves, while Five talked business until the sun rose made Zero grimace, the low heat in her gut fed by fury at being denied. 

“We were in the  _ middle of something _ ,” she repeated, biting out each word. 

Five hummed. “I’d say we’d hardly begun. Besides, it was an important call, Zero.”

When Five’s phone had gone off, Zero had been sprawled across the tangle of the duvet, her pants drawn do to her ankles, fingers curled in blonde hair. Five’s kiss had hesitated over her navel, and Zero, expecting what was coming next, had threatened to eviscerate her if she left - in vain, as Five had returned that Three would find a way to put her back together and pulled away to find her cell. 

No matter what she’d tried, neither threats nor the insistence of her mouth against Five’s neck could pull her away from  _ business _ , and Zero, refusing to beg, had found an unsatisfying release at her own hands, Five’s lilting voice discussing numbers and money transfers in the adjacent room.

Had they been running late because Five had been hard at work bringing Zero to the brink, she wouldn’t have bat an eye. Now, the clock merely reminded her how she’d been left wanting.

As she turned onto the drive, Five’s hand returned, this time resting on Zero’s knee. Gaze flickering down, she saw the gold embroidered into the silk of those gloves, slender fingers drawing teasing circles at the bend of her knee. 

Five smiled promisingly from behind arterial-spray red lips, her lashes fluttering prettily. “Should I be thinking of ways to make it up to you?”

It stirred the vestiges of warmth in gut despite it all. “Fuck you.”

“I’d imagined you’d rather it be the other way around.” Her hand drifted higher as the vista rolled closer and closer, two men in sharp suits waiting for them by the front door. “Though I suppose that could be arranged.”

Zero pulled the car to a screeching halt right in front of the marble steps, half to see the valets flinch and half to dislodge the wandering hand climbing along her trousers’ inseam. 

The fleeting change in Five’s expression might have been irritation, but before Zero could claim it as a victory, Five smoothed it away, refusing to allow Zero the satisfaction. She reached for her clutch, retrieving her lipstick and flipping down the mirror to touch up her lipstick. 

She frowned. “If you’re going to be like that, I’m sure you’ll be fine. And here I was considering how to wrap things up early.”

Throwing the car into park, Zero grumbled, “You’re a shit liar.”

If there was one thing Zero knew from her eighteen months under - or  _ above _ , depending on the situation - Five, it was that nothing came before business. 

“As I was saying,” she said, pointedly ignoring Zero’s words and popping her lips together. She leaned back into her seat, short dress bunching around her hips. “You’re on your best behavior tonight. It’s been a while since someone’s moved against me so boldly, and I can hardly wait to see what he’s capable of.”

Zero made a sound in the back of her throat, drumming her fingers across the steering wheel and glancing out through the perfectly tinted windows to the valets standing by. She knew that tone - Five was already plotting how to lure him into her bed, nothing more exciting than the threat of a blade at her back. 

Bitterly, she remarked, “As if you need any help embarrassing yourself at these things. Try not to seem too desperate to get fucked.”

Fabric strained, leather creaking as Five leaned closer, the tube of lipstick pocketed away in her clutch. Experience held Zero in place even if reflex bide her recoil; these windows were illegally tinted, dark enough to prevent an unwanted audience. Through the fine suit jacket and Five’s dark gloves, the heat of that touch along her bicep was undeniable, soothing like a dog’s handler right before they slipped on the muzzle. 

“Like you are right now? Zero, had I known you were this needy, I would have let you finish yourself off on my fingers while I closed that deal,” Five murmured, something slippery and covetous swirling in her amber gaze. “I almost feel sorry for you. Come here.”

Indignation flared in Zero’s chest, but there was no denying the flush that rose up her pale neck, a sharp jerk of her head bringing her face to face with that self-assured fucker. “What the fuck did you just say?”

The half-lidded look Five fixed on her was as familiar as the taste of that lipstick, the hot spices on her breath. “Just that I’m terribly regretful we were interrupted earlier.”

A thousand scenarios played through her head at once, her thighs pressing together. With her good eye, she studied Five’s expression, caught between anger and the chance for recompense. Twisted as she was in her seat, her suspenders pulled taut over her shoulders, the gun beneath one arm digging into her ribs, yet Five’s gaze pinned her nonetheless.

Delicate fingers traced across the console, finding the line of buttons leading from her belt to her throat. Zero’s gaze dropped as that hand rose along her front, halting at the knot of her tie, toying with the black silk there.

“Your tie.” Giving an experimental tug, Five’s eyes flickered up. She clicked her tongue. “It’s fake.”

Zero growled, shifting closer in an attempt to coax Five into doing something more. “Obviously.”

“A  _ real _ tie is not too much to demand.” 

Zero grunted, not missing the way Five’s fingers slipped beneath the buttons of her shirt, the silky fabric of her glove tracing faint lines along her sternum. “It is if someone other than you tries to choke me.”

Around Five’s wrist, Zero’s fingers closed like a vice, but if anything, it only drew her closer, Five’s eyes heavy and lidded, her smile far too wide. Her voice deepened into a purr, “You’d trust me with a noose around your neck, Zero?”

A hair away, it would have cost her nothing to close the distance between them, press her mouth to Five’s expectant one, smearing that lipstick she loved so dearly. 

But Zero knew Five, and she knew how she liked to play. Vague interest bled from her expression, but in her tone, the hint of an offer was left bare, a lure, bright and attractive. “You seem to enjoy it more than I do, and I don’t need a tie to do it.”

In response, Five’s fingers tightened in Zero’s shirt, the buttons straining where she’d dipped between them, deliberate. “Mm, yes, you are rather breath-taking all on your own - which is why it’s such a shame there’s business awaiting us.”

Five straightened in her seat, her fingers retreating from the warm space between the buttons of Zero’s shirt to grasp her tie. Nearly clinically, Five picked at Zero’s appearance, fixing askew edges and pulling at unruly threads even as Zero’s grip on her wrist grew tighter, sure to leave a ring of bruises in the shape of her fingers.

“ _ Five _ ,” she warned, low and dangerous, her jaw clenched, good eye narrowed.

“There,” Five hummed, decidedly pleased. “Come, Zero. We should be going.”

“If you get out of this car - ”

With a surprisingly strong jerk, Five wrenched her hand away, smiling as though she’d gotten exactly what she wanted. “I’m afraid I refuse to listen to the threats of my employee.”

Zero grit her teeth. “ _ Fuck you. _ ”

“Another time, perhaps,” Five hummed, opening her door and giving a bat of her eyes. “Shall we?”

As Five rose smoothly from the car with the offered hand of one of her attendants, Zero threw herself back into her seat, snarling to herself and running her fingers through her short bangs. She was going to fucking  _ throttle _ Five. 

Grunting, Zero opened the door with enough force to pop the kneecaps of the valet standing by - unfortunately for her, he jumped aside before the swinging door could reach him. A flashfire anger engulfed his expression before he could extinguish it, but Zero didn’t pay him any mind, shoving him aside and snapping, “Fuck it up, and I’ll  _ gut you _ .”

Without waiting for a response, she rounded the front of the car and blew by Five at the landing of the stairs. The click of Five’s needle-point stilettos was the only indication she followed, taking her time and not bothering to attempt to keep pace with Zero’s quick strides.

The vista was well-known to Zero, business dragging them out to this secluded waypoint at least twice a month. That was why Zero had few qualms about bursting through the double doors and stomping through the vestibule, catching sight of a massive hulk of a man twiddling hsi thumbs in the first sitting room on the left. He rose at the sight of her, but she didn’t pause, pushing past a servant to reach the bar at the back of the house. 

Fully stocked no matter how much she took, Zero had her pick of poisons, none more potent than the knowledge that Five knew exactly what she was doing in the car, playing Zero like a fucking instrument. 

The sound of Five greeting Decadus hurried Zero’s pick, determined to get something in her system to help her through this night. Cracking a bottle of jack open, she took a swig, the alcohol burning all the way down to her gut, doing nothing to dampen the desire smoldering there. 

“Fucking,” she hissed. Rounding the bar and rummaging beneath it, she tried to drown out the sound of Decadus offering his  _ sincerest _ delight at having finally made Five’s acquaintance. “I swear I’ll kill her.”

There were shot glasses of crystal stowed beneath the bar, and Zero rose with one, intent on rushing over the line into intoxication as quickly as possible. 

Dropping cubes of ice into the glass, she poured her first before she noticed Five darkening the doorway leading to the hall. Behind her, that brick wall of a man hovered like an awkward shadow, expression stiff and uncertain. Zero’s brow twitched, lips thinning, but she spared only a moment on the expanse of Five’s legs before returning to her shot. 

Decadus cleared his throat. “Miss Five, this is…?”

“My associate,” she explained, nonplussed. 

Zero rolled her eyes and took another drink straight from the bottle. Making direct eye-contact with Five, she lifted one side of her suit’s jacket to reveal the gun beneath her arm. “I shoot people who piss me off.”

Five only laughed, a cheery, musical sound. “More specifically, she acts as my personal protection. In my line of work, there are people who mistakenly believe they can take advantage of my  _ kindness _ . You understand, I’m sure.”

Zero scowled at Five, not forgetting the way she’d leaned so close, teasing, toying. 

If Decadus noticed, he only swallowed and responded, “It’s a pleasure, both of you.”

Unable to help the way her eyes flickered to him, she mentally scoffed. If the fidgeting he was doing with his hands wasn’t telling enough, his shifting eyes bared his endless anxiety for all to see. This guy was an open book, his every discomfort multiplied by Zero’s presence, her gun. 

Unbidden, she found herself wondering how the fish would like the taste of him. 

“Zero and I will meet you outside in a moment,” Five hummed, directing Decadus toward the glass doors which opened to the back patio overlooking the ocean. 

“Of course.” He bowed lower, muscled shoulders crumbling in as he somehow condensed in on himself, becoming smaller and smaller by the second. He slid past her as discretely as possible, only pausing in the doorway to say, “Please, take your time.”

“Oh, we won’t be long,” Five promised, heels clicking across the floor as she approached the bar.

Zero locked eyes with her from behind the smooth, waxed surface of the bar, not even waiting until the doors had shut behind Decadus. “If you think I’m sitting through your fucking meeting, you’re stupider than I thought. Get the hell away from me.”

Swiping the glass in front of her, Five met her searing gaze with a smile, leaning on the bar, gold curls cascading down over her shoulders. “Oh, don’t be such a poor sport, Zero. You honestly make it too easy. What do you think of our newest client?”

“I think you need to get out of my face,” she growled, refusing to let her eyes to fall to the accentuated curve of Five’s bust. “Time  _ now _ .”

The way Five managed to laugh in the face of all of Zero’s threats rubbed her raw. Tossing back the shot, Five bared her neck to Zero’s eyes, the overwhelming urge to take her by throat making Zero’s hands twitch. 

She set the shot glass back on the bar between them, the impression of her lips on the rim in red. The silk of Five’s glove slid along the line of Zero’s jaw. “Really Zero, the night is so young. Don’t drink away the possibilities just because I have more pressing things to attend to than your libido - for the moment anyway...”

Zero swatted the hand away. “I’m not falling for that  _ again _ .”

“Once bitten, twice shy? I didn’t think you had it in you, Zero.” Five straightened slightly, tucking a curling lock of hair behind her ear. “Can you last the night without drinking yourself into a stupor? I might have need of your services - the ones I pay you for.”

There wasn’t enough money in the world to make up for the flash of Five’s teeth and besides - “That doormat couldn’t do a thing.”

Five’s eyes showed her agreement. They slanted towards the door, a subtler smile curling her lips, amber swirling with distinct interest. “He’s a catspaw, can’t you tell? It’s his employer I have much more interest in. Someone this invested in their anonymity certainly hopes to use it to their own advantage…”

Zero gave her a measured look. “Police?”

“He would be full of holes by now if he was.” The law had no place in Five’s business, nevermind her private vista. Decadus wouldn’t have made it past the front door if he had anything to do with the police. “But there are plenty of people who would do almost anything to unseat me. Do you know the opportunities which would open if I were to disappear?”

As far as Zero knew, Five had a hand in nearly every facet of the underworld and contacts in the ones she didn’t directly influence. The power vacuum that would open if she fell… 

Zero gave a shrug, busying herself with pouring another shot. “So get rid of him.”

“And leave his benefactor to send another pawn? No, I think I’ll see what he intends and wait for him to lead me back to one making the plans.”

Before Zero could lift the shot to her lips, Five took her by the wrist, pulling it towards herself instead, amber eyes intent. Want hollowed Zero’s bones, a lance of it making her fingers tighten around the crystal, and Five drained the glass in a swallow, lingering at the rim. 

“God,” Zero muttered. “You’re fucking drenched just thinking about it, aren’t you?”

“I’m excited, yes,” Five hummed, raising Zero’s hand higher to kiss one pale knuckle. “Especially to see you in action, Zero. It’s been some time since you last got to perform an interrogation, hasn’t it? I always love to see these hands at work.”

Zero bared her teeth in something that wasn’t quite a snarl, but she didn’t pull away. Lowly, she asked, “That what gets you hot when you’ve got one up your dress?”

Releasing the bottle of jack, Zero’s other hand drifted toward that neck, feeling the stutter of a drawn breath against her palm, pulse jumping just beneath her fingers. Five’s eyes fluttered, exhaling against Zero’s knuckles, hot breath clouding the crystal of the shot glass. Touch trailing down from her throat, Zero toyed with the plunging neckline of her dress, daring as far as the barely concealed lace of her bra. 

“Oh Zero,” Five murmured, leaning into the phantom touch. “You say that as though I don’t also enjoy that clever tongue of yours.”

“You know what I’d enjoy?” Zero’s question was a puff of air, the space between them dwindling to nothing at all. 

Five’s brow quirked, and she lifted her head from Zero’s hand, lips a hair apart. “Hm?”

Shoving her away, Zero’s expression iced over, frigid with rage. “For you to stop treating me like I’m stupid.”

The change in Five’s expression which followed occurred in increments, flowing from affront to surprise to the peak of delight. Five’s smile was wide and white, her lipstick smudged from kissing crystal. 

“Spoilsport,” she chimed, turning on her heel and starting towards the door. “Feel free to join us, Zero. You know you’re  _ always  _ welcome.”

Zero schooled her face into disgust until Five stepped through the door, her apology for the wait too sweet, cloying, concealing a million motives even Zero wasn’t privy to. That man - Decadus - didn’t stand a chance in hell. 

Frowning down at the hand still clutching the empty shot glass, Zero examined her knuckles, the faint impression of Five’s lips outlined in red upon them. Her frown deepened. 

Ruminating over another drink, Zero glanced at the glass doors leading to the patio, the glow of the sconces alight with flame as warm and pervasive as Five’s implications. Every word was leading, Zero’s mind following them to memories of sweat slicked bodies, the imagined press of fingers and tongues sending a shiver up her spine. 

It was no wonder Five wanted her to open that man up like a middle school biology project - the first time she’d performed an interrogation, she’d been three steps out of the room still wiping the blood on her pants when Five had crashed into her, warm and wanting, the door groaning at the impact.

It had been the first time - and far from the last - and all it had taken was those lips pressing to the warm, gory metal of Zero’s brass knuckles. 

Just the thought made Zero’s thighs clench, closing her eyes and practically seeing the way Five’s gaze had travelled from her knuckles up her forearm to her neck bulging against her suddenly too tight collar. 

_ Missed a spot _ , she’d said, wiping a bead of viscera from Zero’s throat and then devouring the space between them, mouth pressed to the spot she’d just cleaned. 

“Shit,” Zero murmured, realizing she’d gone white-knuckled. It took all her restraint not to throw the bottle of jack, realizing how thoroughly she’d been played.

Just thinking about that freak masquerading as a socialite - laughing, charming, pretending to have an ounce of class - rankled. By now she’d have won Decadus over, tossing her hair and batting her eyes at just the right moments, offering empty praise but never giving an inch in negotiations. 

He wouldn’t even know she’d seen through him from the moment they met. He wouldn’t even know that right now she was dreaming of his blood, of licking it from between Zero’s fingers.

With a huff, Zero finally measured out another shot, capping the bottle and carrying it around to the other side of the bar, cradled delicately in one hand no matter how her blood raced. From here, she could see outside, watch Five and Decadus already set out in eager discussion. 

The patio was paved in white stone, surrounded by standing torch sconces, the flames flickering with the seaside gusts. Farther from the house, two torches illuminated the edge of the relief, the black, churning waters below particular, famous for their tendency to suck debris beneath the waves and never relinquish it. 

The effect of an underwater cove, Five suspected, though there was little use in speculating in Zero’s opinion. The importance was that when people were asked to survey the sea at night, they never returned, their bodies never surfacing. 

It often meant the rest of the night was free to be used however they wanted, the various bedroom and offices offering plenty of options for when Zero licked her way between those dark thighs. 

Another pang of want ripped through her, and she glanced down at the glass in her hand. The dark whiskey swirled like dark waters at the twist of her wrist, but instead of downing it, Zero set it on the bar untouched, pushing towards the doors. 

Stepping outside, Zero watched as both Decadus and Five looked up at her, surprise fleeting. Decadus dipped his head in greeting, and Five patted the cushion next to her on the daybed, smiling as though she’d been waiting for Zero to follow all along. She didn’t respond, a cool gust doing nothing to steal the heat from her flesh, nor the intent from from her stride. 

A table sat between them, sheets of paper with proofs of payments made to charities Five controlled spread across the wood, pinned down by weights. Decadus sat on one side, Five on the other, and Zero circled around behind her, ignoring her invitation to sit. 

She turned, one brow raised. “Yes, Zero?”

Zero bent over the back of the daybed, lips at Five’s ear, one hand steadying her on the top of Five’s thigh, concealed from their unwitting third by the table between them.

“Want to play games?” Zero hissed, right in her ear, too quiet for Decadus to overhear.  Her touch wandered, seeking the heat between Five’s thighs, and the reflexive straightening didn’t go unnoticed, Decadus looking between them.  “ _ Let’s play. _ ”

The only indication her words had any effect was a sharp exhale from Five, her shoulders tense, body taut like a bowstring pulled just before the release. There would be no release, not for Five, not beneath the eyes of her newest endeavor, but that didn’t stop Zero from running her fingers along the lace of her underwear. 

“Is there something the matter, Miss Zero?”

Zero shot him a look from across the table. “Got a message from another client. It’s urgent.”

When Zero turned her face back into Five’s hair, she felt Five try to turn to look at her and dug her fingers into the hair at the back of Five’s skull. Held in place, she didn’t utter a word as Zero forced aside her underwear, exploration yielding slick heat. 

“Christ, you  _ were _ getting off on this,” Zero murmured, eyes flickering down for the briefest moment to where Five’s thighs clenched around her hand. “Give me a break. Pretending you aren’t just fucking waiting for me to bend you over that bar and fuck you senseless.”

Decadus continued to observe them with increasing alarm, but Zero didn’t let up, soaked fingers drifting upwards and drawing small circles against her. Five’s hips shifted slightly, a soft breath escaping her painted lips, nails dragging over the fabric of the daybed’s cushions. From here, Zero could only catch a sliver of Five’s expression, but she could imagine it well enough: eyes hazy with want, lips parted, composure warring instinct and pleasure. 

“You aren’t even trying to stop me.” Zero twisted her fingers in Five’s hair, just enough to hurt. “You want this so bad? You can fucking dream about it while you finish up your  _ business _ .”

With that, Zero gave a final, long stroke and then pulled away, wiping her fingers along Five’s inner thigh. The sound choked in Five’s throat resembled loss, but she said nothing as Zero released her hair, beginning to straighten. 

A grip like iron closed around her wrist before she could, and for the first time, Five managed to meet her eye to eye, amber clouded. Her voice came low and tinged with desire: “ _ Zero. _ ”

Zero didn’t balk, didn’t smile, didn’t react at all except to yank her hand away, digging both of them in her pockets. She turned without regard for the gaze burning between her shoulder blades and gave a half-hearted shrug, already on the way back inside. “That’s all they said.” 

When the door clicked closed behind her, she made her way to the bar again, scooping up her untouched drink and the bottle of jack and making her way to one of the many bedrooms, ignoring the pointed looks of the staff she passed. The one she chose overlooked the ocean with floor to ceiling windows, and Zero  shrugged out of her jacket and threw down the bottle onto the bed before making her way over to them, drink in hand. 

Below, she could see the two of them still down there, Five looking agitated, pointing to documents with the pitiful farce of a smile on her lips. Kicking off her shoes, Zero felt warmth broiling up between her ribs, bubbling to the surface as a razor sharp grin. Without further ado, she drew the curtains and she tipped back the crystal, turning to find the remote to the flat screen and propping up against the headboard, smug satisfaction tamping down the want in her gut. 

Getting the last word made the wait worth it - though she didn’t need to wait long. 

Before the first program had finished - Hell’s Kitchen, a favorite - the door creaked open, Five appearing in the doorway, her expression drawn, a strained tilt to her lips. 

“You settle things with Decadus?” Zero asked mildly, though she couldn’t hide the curl of a smile, crystal held loosely by her chest. 

Her thighs clenched when Five didn’t answer, closing the door behind her and taking long, certain strides across the room, cornering Zero on the bed as if that hadn’t been her intention all along. The mattress sighed as Five climbed onto it and straddled her, settling in her lap. Gloved fingers found the silk of Zero’s tie, drawing it between them. 

Zero’s good eye roved over the expanse of her body, from those thighs settled across her own to the strain of her bust against that tight dress to the intensity of that amber gaze. She dropped the remote and slid her palm up along those smooth legs, catching the hem of her dress and dragging it up to her hip. 

Want coiled hot in Zero’s gut at the hint of lace beneath her fingers. “Or are you just taking a break?”

Hand covering Zero’s, Five urged her on until the fabric was bunched around her waist, underwear dark and unmistakably damp.

Following the lead of her tie, Five stopped only when she reached Zero’s neck, nails tracing over her pulse, voice unusually even when she answered, “It went faster than expected. I dare say you got exactly what you wanted, Zero.” 

Zero smirked. “And now you’re coming here to get what  _ you _ want?”

“Only what you promised me.” Her eyes flashed, edged with warning.

As tempting as it was touch, to discover how much wetter she’d grown, Zero hadn’t forgotten the shit Five had put her through. Her fingers hooked in the lace at Five’s hip, twisting it until it pulled taut. Five sighed softly, shifting, and Zero breathed, “I don’t remember promising you a damn thing.”

Five’s mouth twitched, grip on Zero’s tie tightening, and had it not been a fake, she was sure she’d be gasping for air by now.

To show just how little she cared for Five’s mounting frustrations, she moved to take her last shot for the night, the alcohol buzzing pleasantly through her veins. Five caught her by the wrist before she could, answering Zero’s frown with a look that held her in place even when her hand withdrew. In a move, Five drew her dress up over her head and tossed it towards the corner. 

The expanse of her bare stomach craved touch, begged for the brush of lips. Blonde hair curled around her shoulders, her ribs, her hips, and Zero found herself sorely in need of a drink, her mouth going dry at the sight of her breasts hugged in lace. She barely even noticed Five lifting the shot glass from her hand.

“I’m willing to negotiate,” she murmured, her other hand steadying herself on Zero’s shoulder, looping beneath the strap of her suspender. “Over a drink.” 

Five tipped back the whiskey, but drained it only halfway. Zero watched her swallow, the dart of her tongue over red lips to catch the excess at the corners of her mouth.

“You start talking like I’m a fucking client, and I’m out of here,” she growled, hands skimming up her sides. Snapping her teeth, Zero dug her fingers into her ribs and hissed, “Give me that.”

But Five didn’t relinquish it, tucking it close to her chest, and offering no explanation save the tip of the glass against her flesh, rivers of dark liquid running down between her breasts, toward her navel. At the hem of her underwear, it collected as beads, soaking into the fabric. 

Zero nearly bit her own tongue, strangling the wheeze in her throat before that heated gaze could observe it. 

Eye flickering up and down, she cleared her throat and managed, “That’s a fucking waste.”

Yet even so, she leaned in as Five rose onto her knees, kissing away the whiskey glistening on her skin.

A hand found her hair, pulling the tie away so it fell about her shoulders, fingers stroking through pale locks in a mockery of tenderness as Zero’s mouth drifted up, following the trail. Softly, Five murmured, “Usually I’d insist you were going the other way.”

Zero’s mouth burned with the taste, but she didn’t pause, giving a graze of teeth just below Five’s sternum. “Shut it. You owe me.”

With a sudden twist, Five yanked Zero’s head back. “After that stunt with Decadus, I don’t owe you a thing.”

Grimacing through the pain, Zero bit, “You  _ owe _ me.”

Above her, Five’s mouth twitched again, but she lowered back into Zero’s lap, lidded eyes assessing. Zero could feel her exhales on her lips now, but she refused to buckle, pressing her mouth into a thin, stubborn line. 

Finally, after an eternity, Five muttered, “ _ Fine. _ ”

Zero gave a cutting smile, giving Five a light shove. “Then get the fuck off me.”

Five repositioned, tucking her thighs beneath her beside Zero and threading fingers through golden curls. Just knowing she was eager for her own turn was enough to make Zero stop and appreciate the sight of her there, taking her time to swipe at the whiskey below her navel, licking it from the heel of her palm. 

Five shot her a look. “That was supposed to be your mouth.”

Rising up onto her knees, Zero undid the snaps of her suspenders and made quick work of the fly of her pants. “Maybe if I’m feeling generous.”

A clipped laugh cut the air between them, Five’s eyes following Zero’s movements as she disrobed. “Are you ever feeling generous, Zero?”

“With you? Fuck no.”

Her pants dropped over the side of the bed, tie, suspenders, and pistol following them. Zero didn’t bother with her shirt even if the time taken to undo each button might have been well appreciated by Five, who was watching her like a jungle cat, keen and gaunt and waiting for the moment to strike. 

When Zero leaned toward her, Five met her in a hasty kiss, gloved hands on her hips sending shivers up Zero’s spine. The first slip of fingers between her legs dragged an airy sigh from her, Five devouring it greedily. 

The touch was cursory, fleeting, retreating once it had confirmed the slick arousal there. 

Five chuckled, some of that frustration bleeding away as Zero moved closer. “Zero, if I didn’t know better, I’d think you were  _ desperate. _ ” 

“Shut up.” No use mentioning Five’s own apparent need, not when it would have been just another road bump into actually getting to the good part. Zero pushed Five back onto the bed by the shoulders, her palms roving up towards Five’s collarbones as she settled over her hips. “I know you’ve got a gag hidden away somewhere.”

Five only hummed, gathering up her hair from beneath her and tossing it over one shoulder. “And here I thought you’d wanted the pleasure of my tongue.”

Zero slid up her body, want throbbing through her as Five’s hands found her hips, urging her on. Settling just above her face, Zero gave a sharp exhale as Five turned her head to kiss her inner thighs, tongue and teeth teasing. “For  _ afterwards _ .”

“Are we staying the night?” 

If Zero had intended to answer, the words were stolen the moment Five leaned in and parted her with her tongue, one hand fisting in the duvet while the other buried in blonde hair. 

When that mouth found her clit, it was all Zero could do to shudder out a broken moan, her mind blanking, hips rocking down to meet the pressure of Five’s tongue. A night of waiting, a night of Five’s bullshit, but finally -  _ finally _ \- she had her beneath her, ragged breaths and her own thundering pulse the only sound in the room. 

Unforgiving fingers tightened in Five’s hair, but even so she kept on, tongue drawing circles against Zero, coaxing out every tremor, every shiver until Zero was wracked with them. 

The edge reared up almost too quickly, Zero’s thighs tensing and trembling, but she’d been denied long enough, and her body moved instinctively, chasing the friction of Five’s mouth, gasps of  _ fuck _ the only warning before she crested, back bowed, hips rucking down to steal every bit of pleasure. 

Unyielding until she’d ridden her orgasm to its end, Zero stilled suddenly, but the tease of tongue against her tore a hiss from her throat. 

“Shit,” she gasped. “Enough -  _ fuck _ .”

Five’s warm laughter was almost too much, her nerves raw from her release.

Untangling her fingers from gold tresses, Zero rolled off of Five before she could return, fingers pulling at her collar as she caught her breath, mind and body both hazy with sensation. The mattress next to her sagged, and Five’s palm traced up beneath the hem of her shirt.

Zero’s good eye cracked open, the sight of Five’s smile triggering alarm bells even now. Reflexively, she bit, “Bitch.”

“That hardly took any time at all.” Five threw one leg over Zero’s hips, working open the buttons of her shirt one by one. “Had I known it was going to be that easy, I wouldn’t have fought you for the first turn.”

Zero tilted her head back at the whisper of those fingers over the button at her throat. “Fuck. Off.”

Shirt opened, Five’s touch trailed down over her bra and then dropped to her arms, tracing lines down towards her wrists. “That’s no way to thank me, Zero.”

An airy laugh bubbled up in her throat. “You have a better idea?”

Five took Zero’s hands in her own, guiding them to her hips. Humming, she said, “Mm, you  _ did  _ mention something about a gag.”


End file.
